Obama’s Resolution: Ignore Congress Again in 2012

The mainstream media have finally caught on to the president’s agenda, more than a year after this author exposed it in these pages. On New Year’s Day, the Los Angeles Times carried a story detailing Barack Obama’s strategy for 2012: bypass Congress and rule by executive order. The Times quoted Obama adviser Josh Earnest’s curt euphemism that, “In terms of the president’s relationship with Congress in 2012…the president is no longer tied to Washington, D.C.” The newspaper then outlined the president’s agenda:

As the year unfolds, Obama will use executive authority to roll out more initiatives designed to boost the economy and assist struggling families, the White House aide said. Obama has already unveiled 20 such measures under the White House’s new slogan, “We can’t wait.”

Earnest said that the White House’s goal was to contrast the image of a “gridlocked, dysfunctional Congress” with “a president who’s leaving no stone unturned to try to find solutions to the difficult financial challenges and economic challenges facing this country.”

Earnest — who must have been chosen for his surname — concluded working with Congress is “no longer a requirement.”

Well, Los Angeles Times, it’s about time. This author exposed that strategy in fall 2010, before the election. We have commented on it numerous times since. Yet more than 15 months later, the prestige media treat Earnest’s earnestness as a revelation.

 Read More at Western Journalism By Ben Johnson, Western Journalism